How not to do it:
How not to do it:
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
My observation over the last year of lightly looking around for a plain-jane wood stocked AK is that for such a legendary gun, it's pretty hard to find one that isn't poorly built and unreliable or even dangerous.
Anyone have any ideas on who I can commission to build a Yugo M76 that won't be a pile of shit like the mainstream M76 builders? Anyone have info about Two Rivers Arms? They seem to have not updated their site in a while/it always lists out of the stock on everything.
Last edited by TGS; 08-10-2020 at 07:09 PM. Reason: clarification
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Paging @HizzieOriginally Posted by TGS
im strong, i can run faster than train
Troy and InRange would be my first suggestion.
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Although I don't have a ton of experience with a variety of builders this would be my recommendation as well. A number of years back I had a Bulgarian 74 kit built by a company which I believe is defunct now and they totally screwed up the receiver. I recently sent it to Troy at In Range and he rebuilt it on a new receiver and did a fantastic job.
Not sure exactly why, but the individually commissioned builds from Two Rivers that I've seen were fantastic, and their 'production' sort of builds as sold by Classic Arms were nice but just a little bit off from their commissioned builds. I suppose that could be expected.
If you already have an M76 kit with a good barrel and a Tortort 80% or similar I'm sure that Two Rivers would build it very nicely if they accepted the build. If not, I've examined a few and shot an Assault Weapons Ohio (AWO) M76 and I was pleased with the result.
Delivered expected accuracy for a rifle like that (4-5in groups at 200 yd with PPU brass 8mm) with one jam due to a round 'nose diving' in the magazine. The mags are apparently sensitive to OAL of the ammo and not all commercial 8mm is the same in that regard. My only real beef with the AWO build as an AK nerd was the incorrect-for-military cerakote/gunkote whatever glossy black finish on the metal and the over-finished wood.
Around 2012-2013 I did encounter a CAI M76 on a shooting range, and the owner was having issues with his handloads, but factory ammo was running fine and shot well enough that he was always hitting the steel he aimed at. I wanted to ask to try a few rounds but he didn't seem all that interested in chatting so I left him be after commenting on his rifle. CAI builds being what they are, I'd bring headspace gauges and check out bolt lug wear etc on any CAI I considered.
Considering putting a deposit on a Rifle Dynamics RD701. This would be my first and likely only AK. Just want one nice one in the safe to get to know the gun a bit. Thoughts on these or alternatives in this gun buying climate?
They have been pretty spotty. Rob Ski reviewed one and had tons of issues and others have as well. That said he is in the middle of reviewing one of their new AK74s and it has performed well AFAIK. As far as American made AKs go, it seems the Palmettos are the best bet. Kalashnikov USA is out now and may be worth the wait.
I just picked up a newer ZPAP and have decent luck with my previous one though others on this forum will tell you to stay away from Yugos. If you can find one you can’t go wrong with a good Romanian and Arsenal are out there if you are willing to pay the premium.
Last edited by Suvorov; 12-16-2020 at 09:45 PM.
I was personally unimpressed with the RD builds I handled.
Arsenal SAM7SF is my personal favorite. If I had a mulligan I would go 762x39 Galil ACE. It’s the only off the shelf AK that improves on the SF IMO.
Definitive Arms and Meridian Defense also come to mind for top tier builds.
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I have vague memories of Bulgarian Arsenals going for $400-500 back in 2003. Has the AK market changed that much?
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